TQG 67

67. Arrival

The cry of a wyvern alerted me that Tarisha had finally located me.  She swooped down in my path, and I pulled Shadow to a stop.  Surprisingly, Corinth was riding double with her in the saddle that she had modified to accommodate me.  We dismounted to exchange greetings, and I noticed something upsetting.

“Tarisha, you’ve lost a level,” I said.

She hung her head.  “Were you not told?  I am very sorry, Lord Hail, but I failed the challenge quest to defeat the assassin at your uncle’s house.  After defeating me in solo combat, she used an item which allowed her to escape retribution from the other members of <Peasant’s Revenge>.  She has been bragging about the duel on the forums since then.  The only consolation I can offer is that I have learned that you were not the target.  In fact, her own quest was to kill me, although I do not know who issued her the quest or why.”

“Then why did she attack me?” I asked.

“She apparently knew of my [Keep Him Safe] boon and thought that killing you would disable it to make the task of defeating me easier,” Tarisha explained.  “It proved unnecessary, as my acceptance of the challenge quest disabled the Pee Vee Pee bonus that boon grants me.  We fought on equal terms, and I was defeated fairly.  It was a humbling experience, and I have realized that I have grown complacent in my skills.  I have redoubled my efforts in maintaining and improving my combat ability.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“It’s quite alright.  I am viewing it as a valuable learning experience,” she said.

I turned to Corinth.  “I’m surprised to see you here, I figured that you would be waiting in Ebbyvale with the others.”

“Yeah, well, I begged Tarisha for the ride to meet you.  I wanted to thank you, man, the boons I got from saving your ass last time are the bomb.  Seriously.  I got [Spitting in Death’s Eye], which is literally one of the coolest buffs in the game that I’ve ever heard of, but also [I’ll Take a Bullet For You], which decreases the damage I take from an attack directed at someone else by ninety percent and gives me a thirty percent damage buff for five seconds after I do so.  I mean, I’m not a tank, but that’s a seriously awesome ability,” he said.

“I’m glad your happy with it, but I don’t actually have any control over whether the Travelers I adventure with get a boon or not,” I admitted.  “If I did, I’d give them out much more frequently.”

“Yes, well, I have to say thank you man.  Double high-five!” he said, raising his hands.  Somewhat familiar with this Traveler custom, I responded appropriately.  His jubilant expression abruptly changed after the ritual, however, as he examined an unexpected popup.

“What the fuck?” he exclaimed.  “I just got cursed!”

I felt a wave of dread flow through me.  “Is it [The Gray Man’s Touch]?”

“No, it’s [Reaper’s Embrace].  It’s not the same as your curse, it doesn’t reset me to level one, although I still get the experience boon.  But when I die, I lose ten times the amount of experience that I’ve gained from [Through the Valley of the Shadow].  Basically its the same thing though; if I gain any significant amount of experience under the curse and then die, my level will drop like a stone,” Corinth explained.  Then, before Tarisha realized what he was about to do, he abruptly reached out and touched her with his cursed limb.

She did not respond favorably, drawing her blade and putting it to his throat in an instant.  “What in the seven hells do you think you were doing?” she demanded.

“Sorry, just seeing if this was going to be an epidemic,” Corinth said, chuckling.  “Did you get it too?”

“No,” she said, “and that’s the only reason I haven’t sent you to the lobby.  Perhaps I should anyway to see if death will cleanse the curse.”

“Oh come on, you’re overreacting,” Corinth objected.

“I don’t think I am,” Tarisha said.  She pressed her blade against his throat.  “I think I’m reacting quite appropriately.”

“Tarisha, wait,” I said.  “I mean, yeah be mad at him, but, well, we did need to find out of [Reaper’s Embrace] would spread from Traveler to Traveler.  If I can’t cure [The Gray Man’s Touch], then there’s a good chance I’ll end up infecting other Travelers as well, so we need to know how to deal with the lesser version of the curse.  And honestly, it’s just dumb luck that I infected Corinth before I infected you, right?”

The former dancer glared at the teenager for a moment.  “You are right.  We do need to experiment to learn how to handle this situation.  I vote the next experiment is to kill Corinth to see if his curse is removed.”

I shook my head.  “No.  He needs to visit with a priest first.  The priests of Thedum may have heard of our curses before and know how to deal with them.”

“Hey, look, if dying really is the only way to remove this, then yeah, I’ll totally let you Pee Kay me, okay?” Corinth said.  “Sorry, by the way.  I guess that was a dick move, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, Corinth, yes it was,” Tarisha said.  Then, still glaring at him, she reluctantly sheathed her sword.  “I think that the line to the temple in Ebbyvale will be shorter than the one in the capital.  However, I’m not in the mood to let you ride shotgun with me any longer.  I suggest you make your own way back.”

“Right.  Sorry again,” Corinth said.  “I’m just going to … yeah.”

His body vanished as he Fast Traveled away.  Tarisha glared at the spot where he had vanished for a moment, then forcibly put aside her anger and turned to me.  “I would try to hug you, Lord Hail, but the curse complicates things.  I think that it will be best if you ride the rest of the way to Ebbyvale on your new mount while I escort you.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, looking at my left hand.  It didn’t look any different than it had before, but I still had a light tingling feeling from it.  “I understand.  Still, it is good to see you.  I was a little worried about getting ambushed on the road again, but now I sort of hope that we do.”

“Indeed.  Many of your higher level followers have already begun scouting North Shire for possible bandit hideouts.  They are just waiting for you to arrive in the hopes that when you do, you will issue a quest to initiate a purge,” she explained.

“Right.  Well, we should get going.”  I remounted Shadow, and Tarisha her Wyvern, and we were back on the road.  She rode next to me rather than taking to the sky, which limited out speed, but the conversation was much better.  Another two members of <Peasant’s Revenge> quickly caught up with us as we got underway, and I would pity any bandits who tried ambushing me after that.  They circled over head as we rode, their constant vigil keeping me safe.

~~~~~~~~~~

The native population of Ebbyvale was approximately six thousand.  That may not sound like a lot compared to the half-million or so of Zhesa city, but it was by far the largest settlement in Northshire, and the third largest city of northern Yuikon.  It existed mostly as the seat of the shire, where the previous lord had made his home before dying of … less than noble circumstances.  Having not left an heir, the land reverted to the crown, which sent a young scribe to serve as steward.

The shire was pastoral and agricultural in nature.  A few of the local lords had made gestures of trying to incorporate the land into their existing territory, but my grandfather had rebuffed their efforts as they were already at the limit of what they were legally entitled to manage with their current ranks, and he deemed them unworthy of an elevation to the next rank of nobility.

While, as an Earl, I was at the lower end of the noble spectrum, the shire was only about a third the land I was legally allowed to own.  However, there had been no readily available earldom ready for me to snatch up without giving the boot to a noble family which had been managing it for centuries, and so Grandfather had made the compromise of giving me two non adjacent territories.  It wasn’t that big of a problem; even if I couldn’t Fast Travel, most nobles would have [Mages] in their employ who could quickly [Portal] them between their various holdings.

Thorn March was actually the larger of the two territories, but it was also the less populated.  While the primary exports of North Shire were grain and livestock, Thorn March was known only for it’s production of thornberry wine.  The land was somewhat mountainous and inhospitable to common food crops, but the native thornberry bushes were plentiful.  While the vineyards produced hundreds of thousands of bottles per year, the wine was seen as a low-class beverage, valuable only in bulk.  It was sold throughout the heartlands, but the price was only a few coppers for a glass, so it was not seen as a profitable industry.

Inwardly, I once more thanked my grandfather’s shade for thrusting these noble lands upon me as Ebbyvale came into view.  Sincerely.  I was not grumbling at the interruption they were putting on my leveling progress, or the trouble which solving their difficulties would cause me.  I was certain that he wouldn’t have intentionally given me lands knowing that they were filled with strife.  Just like he wouldn’t have encouraged me to make one of my first acts as a noble to insult three fourths of his court with cleverly disguised compliments.  That was not like him at all.

Many of the Travelers had noticed my flying escorts, and so there were dozens of them waiting for me outside the sleepy pastoral town.  Many familiar faces were in the front lines, including the quartet whom I had first encountered outside Zhesa city in my ill fated attempt at running away from home.

I was pleased to note that, in my absence, Thena, Phil, Larissa, and Laurant had all gained more than ten levels and were now averaging level forty-five.  That did mean that I had fallen behind them again, but I wasn’t too worried about it.  Once I finally sorted out the trouble with my lands, I was determined to go on a leveling spree which no Traveler would be able to keep up with.  Especially with the bonus of [Through the Valley of the Shadow].  Assuming that there was no way to cleanse [The Gray Man’s Touch], at least.  If I could get rid of the curse then I would; the risk was simply not worth the benefits.  If I couldn’t then … well, I guess I would just have to try very hard not to die.

“Hey kiddo!” Laurant called when I came in earshot.  “Good to have you back.”

I grinned.  “You’ve been busy while I was gone.”

“Yeah, I mean, you did say not to wait for you,” he reminded me.

“I’m happy for you.  Don’t worry, I’ll catch up in no time, and before long you’ll be the ones who are falling behind.”

He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yeah, you’re probably right.  So then, what’s the order of business?  We’ve been talking to the locals trying to get the lay of the land, but all of them are pretty tight lipped.  I get the feeling that they’re too scared of the bandits to trust us, and few of them are willing to say a bad word about the sherif or the steward.”

“He’s a constable, not a sherif,” I corrected.  “And he’s the first person I need to speak with.  I would very much like an explanation of why these roads are unsafe for travelers.”

“Righto.  Mind if we ride with you?” Phil asked.

“Sure.  Just be careful not to touch my left hand, I don’t want to curse anyone by accident like I did to Corinth.”

The two dozen or so Travelers formed something of a circle around me as we traveled to the constabulary, while some others rode ahead when they heard my destination.  I chatted amiably with the others.  I had mostly kept everyone up to date through guild chat, popping in whenever I had a significant update on my situation, but I rarely paid attention to it outside of those times, so they were quite eager to tell me about the adventures they’d had in my absence.

Mostly they had been following one of the many prescribed leveling paths that their kind had developed for quickly gaining power while inside the kingdom of Yuikon, although they confided to me that before long they would have to journey to one of our neighboring nations to continue reaching new heights.  I frowned at this reminder; Yuikon was in the very heart of the heartlands.  While this made us one of the safest nations in the world to live in due to the relative low number and levels of darkspawn, it also meant that few Travelers remained here longer than was necessary to get to level sixty.  If I was to follow the Traveler’s path to power, that would mean that I, too, would need to leave my home nation relatively soon.

For the first time, I began to consider the implications of traveling the world in the quest for levels.  It wouldn’t be an issue if I was simply a royal bastard, but having been given the rank of Earl, I would need to be mindful of politics on my journey.  There were likely lands where Travelers could pass freely where I would not be welcome.  And, on the other hand, once news of my travels spread through foreign courts, I might find myself the recipient of invitations which I would find hard to refuse to areas which Travelers seldom went.

I shook my head to clear it.  I was getting ahead of myself.  I had to put North Shire in order before doing anything else.  And that meant confronting the constable over why he was letting bandits run rampant through my lands.

We came to the constabulary building.  It was one of the larger buildings in the small city, mostly because it was built to hold dozens of prisoners in its cells.

I turned to my companions.  After a moment’s consideration, I nodded towards Phil.  “Phil, would you mind going in and announcing me?  I should probably get a valet or something for official visits like this, but, I mean, there’s like a thousand things I haven’t had time to do yet and --”

“Quest accepted,” Phil said.  “Just tell me what to say.”

“Just say ‘Earl Hail Jeoran has come to see the head constable of North Shire.’”

“Right.”  The big [Warrior] proceeded to kick open the front door to the constabulary, and, with a [Battle Cry], shouted the words I’d given him.

I covered my face in embarrassment.  That wasn’t exactly what I had been envisioning, but I suppose that it would work.